Naptime Interrupted
by Eleanor J
Summary: Post 'Let Sleeping Dogs Lie' fic. HouseCuddy Friendship. Warning: Some very mild Cameron bashing so if you don't like anything negative being said about her, then don't read it.


Naptime Interrupted

By Ellie

Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'm just playing with them.

A/N: Just a little scene that popped into my head and wouldn't go away until it was written down.

Cuddy took her mail from her secretary as she walked into her office after finishing her clinic duty. She made it halfway to her desk when she noticed the prone figure lying asleep on her couch. She exhaled a frustrated breath as she walked towards him and smacked him on the head with her mail.

"Ow!" he yelled as he awoke.

"What the hell are you doing in my office?" she asked in a low angry voice.

"Obviously, I'm trying to take a nap," he said as he rubbed his head and yawned.

"Kick Wilson out if he's interrupting your sleep that much."

House gave a little laugh. "Obviously, you've never eaten Wilson's Spicy Chicken Molé. I would endure much more than sleeplessness to be able to eat that Feast from the Gods on a regular basis. Plus he's hired a maid to clean the place. What's a little sleep loss compared to that?"

"A great deal when you're breaking into my office to take a nap. And why my office? What's wrong with your office?"

House sighed as he sat up and rolled his eyes. "I was asleep there, but Cameron starting cleaning the lounge very loudly. Lots of things being dropped into place. Books being thrown around. That sort of thing. I needed to find someplace quiet, and I wasn't going to the clinic if I wasn't scheduled, and the lecture halls were being used, and I knew your office would be empty because you were scheduled for clinic duty for most of the afternoon. So here I am."

"Lucky me," she said dryly as she sat down in the chair next to the couch. "Is Cameron still upset about Foreman's article?"

House made a disgusted face. "Is there anyone in this hospital that she didn't complain to? Yes, I think she's still upset with Foreman."

"I _am_ correct to assume that Foreman didn't plagiarize Cameron's paper, right?" she asked.

"Of course he didn't plagiarize. They just wrote it on the same case, and he got published before her even though she wrote hers before he wrote his."

"Isn't it your job to keep that kind of thing from happening?" she asked pointedly with an eyebrow raised.

He groaned as he rubbed his face in annoyance. "Cameron put her paper on my desk four months ago with a post-it note asking me to go over it and tell her what I thought."

Cuddy snorted in amusement. "How long as she worked for you?" she asked.

"Exactly!" he exclaimed. "Anyways, I just ignored it. I was waiting to see how long she'd wait for me to read it before she said anything. Then about three weeks ago, Foreman interrupted me during General Hospital when we were just about to find out who Alexis's real daughter was and gave me something to sign," House paused for a moment as he became lost in thought. "I wonder if he picked up a copy of Soap Opera Digest to find out when I would be most distracted?" he mused quietly before continuing. "I signed it and promptly forgot about it. That is until Cameron threw her little temper tantrum."

Cuddy gave him a look of annoyance mixed with understanding.

"What exactly did you tell Cameron when she came to you?" he asked curiously.

Cuddy sighed and shook her head. "I told her to write another paper to kick his ass with."

He chuckled appreciatively. "Ahhh Cuddy. You are the Queen of Practicality. I'm sure she loved that."

"She didn't seem very happy with my response."

"She wanted you to be shocked and punish him in some way."

"Sorry, my whips are in the shop this week," she deadpanned.

House put on a hurt face. "Hey, I thought you only used those with me."

"Don't worry. You'll always be the one I love to punish the most. Besides, Foreman didn't technically do anything wrong, except be stupid about office politics. I can't punish people for that. If I did, you'd have been out of here long ago."

"Cuddy, you know that you would die of boredom without me here to brighten your day."

"Some days, I'd be willing to take that risk," she replied dryly. She paused, lost in thought for a moment, before continuing on. "Dr. Cameron is an excellent doctor, but she needs to …"

"Grow-up?" House supplied.

Cuddy stared at him in disbelief. "That's rich coming from you, but yes. She needs to realize that life isn't fair; but that you need to get over it otherwise you lose any opportunity that you have to make a difference. Complaining about it doesn't do anything except annoy people."

"And she's been pretty annoying these past couple of days."

They were silent for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts. Cuddy looked up at him suddenly and asked, "Am I ever going to find out what was going on between your patient and her girlfriend?"

House made a face. "Because of Cameron's excessive interest in our patient's life, we discovered that she was planning on dumping the girlfriend. I didn't want anyone telling her in case it changed her mind about donating part of her liver."

Cuddy nodded her head in understanding. "Not that it matters now, but I don't think she would have changed her mind."

"Really?" House asked, surprised. "Whatever happened to 'Hell hath no fury' and all that jazz?"

"It still applies, but Max really loved her, and I think that she would have given her the liver just on the off chance that she could win her back," she said.

"Or guilt her into staying," House added after a moment's reflection.

Cuddy pondered that statement for a moment. "I hope not. That's no way for either one of them to live." She ignored the pointed look that he gave her. Cuddy glanced at her watch to check the time. "Did you finish the paperwork that the CDC gave you?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Yes," House said and couldn't help but grin at Cuddy's surprised expression. "It's not everyday that I get to write 'Black Death' on my paperwork."

"Why don't you call it a day then and go home to catch some sleep before Wilson shows up." It was Cuddy's turn to laugh at House's surprised expression. "I'm sick of hearing stories about you being found asleep in every room of this hospital. Go home. Better yet, drop by a pharmacy on the way there and invest in some earplugs to block out Wilson's early morning noise."

"Wow, you really do possess the wisdom of the ages."

"House …" Cuddy said in a threatening tone.

"I'm going," he said as he got up from her couch and headed towards the door. It had been a pretty good day, he mused as he left. He had a patient with the plague, and he got to go home early. What more could one person reasonably ask for?

The End

A/N2: I firmly believe that Foreman did not do anything technically wrong when he wrote the paper. According to Wilson, even thought their articles were on the same case, they had completely different hooks. He didn't plagiarize it. He saw that Cameron was waiting for House to do something that he would never do and so he wrote his own paper from his own perspective. Neither one owns the case. I'm not saying what he did was right, because I firmly don't believe that you should treat your co-workers that way, but there was no rule breaking that Cuddy or House could punish. Cuddy gave the most practical advice she could. Get over it and write another paper that makes his look like garbage. It's not like she'd have to look long and hard for a weird case to write about.


End file.
